"So we think these new changes will have a significant impact, especially at the end of the game," Silver said. "Overall we go from 18 to 14 timeouts but we have reduced the number of timeouts by four in the last two minutes of the game. Now in the last three minutes of games, each team will have two timeouts. That is significantly down. We will see how that works." Each team will get seven timeouts per game with no restrictions per half. Previously a "full" timeout was 90 seconds" and a "20-second" timeout was 60 seconds. Now, both will be replaced with 75-second team timeouts.

In overtime, teams previously had three timeouts but that's been reduced to two. The board also approved moving the trade deadline from the Thursday after the NBA All-Star Game to the Thursday 10 days before the game.

Silver said the NBA moved its trade deadline up to help any players that are traded at the deadline. When the deadline came after the All-Star break in the past, players who were traded did not have much time to acclimate themselves and move, especially if the trade sent a player cross country.

The timeout reduction is beneficial for the fans. Casual fans tend to complain that it takes an hour for the final five minutes of a basketball game to transpire. Less commercial breaks means less buzz kills that come as a result of game stoppage.

Fair point, though in some cases it did get really tedious, especially in games where a comeback was highly unlikely. In those situations, it seemed more like an effort to pad each other's numbers, or more cynically, cover the spread. When it takes over ten minutes to play out the final minute of the game, it's getting a little ridiculous. Even as a hardcore basketball fan who appreciates the strategy behind the approach, I'm inclined to agree with casual fans on that one.